Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Over the space of 12 months, there has been a €1,000 increase in annual household gas and electricity bills, with some commentators suggesting this could end up reaching up to €6,000 per annum. This is unsustainable for households and domestic businesses. I know of business owners who are paying up to €100,000 per year in gas and energy bills and who are now facing tariffs that would bring that cost up to €360,000 per year. The economic and the social fallout for families and businesses will be staggering without immediate and significant market interventions. We also need to demonstrate our ability to accelerate capital power development projects that we have been virtue signalling now for some time.

Earlier today in the Dáil, the Taoiseach said he expects that this crisis could extend up to a further 18 months and possibly beyond. There is no doubt the climate policy we have adopted, although laudable, is coming back to hurt us. Carbon taxes and the removal of indigenous energy production are having a significant effect on our ability to meet this crisis. Today, I also heard the Taoiseach reference our position that we would like to remain with what European solidarity will propose, but we ourselves have to be proactive. To that point, I will raise some issues that will probably come up in our Regional Group’s motion tomorrow.

Can we consider banning the threat of any electricity supply discontinuation to domestic or commercial customers during this crisis, particularly to hospitals, homes, schools and nursing homes? We should suspend the licensing regime that is in place for forestry thinning. This is dysfunctional at the moment. Using those thinnings and brash, we could reopen the 250 MW midlands power stations in Lanesborough and Shannonbridge to burn biomass. This is eminently feasible and just requires policy legislation. We could also set a national cap on the unit price of electricity within the State, raising a long-term loan to pay for verifiable surplus cost to power generators, which would be repaid through electricity bills over a 15-year period. We have seen this being enacted in other countries in the EU. Furthermore, we could exempt planning for rooftop flush mounted solar PV panels on domestic, agricultural and commercial buildings. I am sure it is not lost on the Minister that the Irish Farmers’ Association, IFA, is across the road tonight, having with met the Minister today. That is a policy we signalled two years ago and we have yet to implement it.

As the Minister knows well, we are in a crisis, as are families and businesses. We need to act proactively to protect the vulnerable, but we also must consider the livelihoods of our citizens and our business owners.

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